Fruit
berry picking in tasmania
Today, we ate some delicious raspberries that we had bought on the weekend from the local supermarket and it made us think of berry picking in Tasmania.
In Tasmania, there are a few farms that you can stop at to pick your own fruit.
We stopped at two; Sorrell Fruit Farm and Hillwood Berry Farm. Both slightly different in their approach to fruit picking.
(1) Sorrell Fruit Farm
It is only about 20 minutes north east of Hobart. To our surprise, when we arrived, there was an entrance fee. We had visited back in 2008 and we were able to wander through free of charge. And were only charged if you picked any fruit.
Now, the price is $13.50 per adult and $6.00 per child, that includes the punnet of fruit that you pick. It was a shame that the price was set regardless of whether you were picking fruit or just photographing. That made it a little tricky for us as we were hoping to take some more photos for the blog. We thought it was a little expensive to pay $27 for both of us just to walk through so we waited outside. Imagine paying for all 12 of us to go through, we would’ve ended up with a lot of fruit. But we can understand from a business perspective where they were coming from so absolutely no criticism or complaints in our eyes.
We sent in the kids more for their experience with 2 adults and away they went. The loot was everything from raspberries, cherries, loganberries to tayberries. Other than raspberries and strawberries, we have never tried any of the other types of berries on offer.
(2) Hillwood Berry Farm
Halfway into the trip, we visited Hillwood Berry Farm from Launceston. This was about a 20-minute drive north.
The approach these guys took was slightly different. They charged by the kilogram depending on how much fruit you actually picked. There was also plenty of play equipment for children to keep themselves busy while the adults went fruit picking.
We ended up with 5 punnets between us filled with strawberries and MORE raspberries. Strawberries are quite easy to spot and pick in the fields. However raspberries are so much more delicate and harder to find. Raspberries and squish quite easily between your fingers as you pick them.
The strawberries were priced at approximately $10 per kg while raspberries at approximately $20 per kg.
We have never eaten so many berries in our lives as we did in those 10 days in Tasmania. They were just so scrumptious and juicy and fresh! It certainly gave us a greater appreciation of the cost of fruit: from the work of the farmer through to the picking and packaging of the fruit. It also made us realise how fresh fruit don’t keep well so how do the supermarkets do it?!
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you can farm anything
Tasmania seemed to have a farm for everything: there are potato farms, lettuce farms, poppy farms, honey farms, cheese farms, lavender farms. Let’s talk about some of the farms we visited.
We certainly did not go hungry in Tassie. There was delicious and fresh food everywhere. Driving around the state, there are numerous fruit farms you can visit. We visited three: Hillwood Strawberry Farm, Kate’s Berry Farm and Sorrell Fruit Farm. 
We had NO idea that there were so many types of berries. So for 10 days we indulged on cherries, strawberries, waffles and sundaes! The great thing about these farms is that you can pick your own fruit if you are that way inclined.
Fresh seafood is also not lacking here. There are salmon farms to visit where you can feed the fish and then there are places where you can eat fish (not necessarily the same fish you saw at the farms). While we were down on the east coast, we ate at an amazing Japanese place, Kabuki in Swansea. Lovers of seafood will NOT be disappointed in Tasmania.
But let’s not forget the final stop for us… the chocolate farm – well, its registered name would probably be the Cadbury Factory! That was quite an experience. We saw them making, wrapping, packing, stacking the chocolate. We got to eat lots of chocolate on the tour too. We walked through the the factory with our hair nets, white lab coats and shoe protectors… Willy Wonka eat your heart out! The one place we did not get to see was the FORBIDDEN FACTORY – actually, it wasn’t really called that. It’s the part of the factory where Flake and Twirl are made. The recipe and process is so top secret, Cadbury could not risk the secret getting out!
wise monkeys abroad 